Job Change = Macbook Pro 17"?

wbarnhill

wbarnhill

Final Approach
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Feb 26, 2005
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iEXTERMINATE
Well as of Wednesday I got an odd shift at my job. My current position is being eliminated, and I'm being shifted to a different department. As part of my change, I've been offered the opportunity for a new laptop. Preliminary requests have succeeded in the following specs:

Macbook Pro 17"
2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB DDR2 SDRAM
160GB 7200RPM
17" Hi-Def (1920x1200) Glossy Widescreen
256MB NVIDIA 8600M GT Video card
8X SuperDrive
3-year AppleCare
Extra Smug

So then my question to the Apple fanboys (and girls) is this: It's no cost to me, so either is fine, but would you recommend me cutting back to a 15" and for what reasons? I just want to weigh those ideas against what I'm thinking of. Thanks!
 
wbarnhill said:
Well as of Wednesday I got an odd shift at my job. My current position is being eliminated, and I'm being shifted to a different department. As part of my change, I've been offered the opportunity for a new laptop. Preliminary requests have succeeded in the following specs:

Macbook Pro 17"
2.4 Ghz Intel(TM) Core(R) 2 Duo
4GB DDR2 SDRAM
160GB 7200RPM
17" Hi-Def (1920x1200) Glossy Widescreen
256MB NVIDIA 8600M GT Video card
8X SuperDrive
3-year AppleCare
Extra Smug

So then my question to the Apple fanboys (and girls) is this: It's no cost to me, so either is fine, but would you recommend me cutting back to a 15" and for what reasons? I just want to weigh those ideas against what I'm thinking of. Thanks!
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:D I think I got them in the right order. :D

The only factor I'd use on the size is - are you going to be carrying it a lot? Which is lighter?

On the other hand, with my old eyes, I'd go for the larger screen every time. :p
 
Both my laptops are 17" displays using 1440x900. But, I prefer higher resolution for more desktop space. It's a not easier for me when I can see more of the document I'm working on, particularly spreadsheets and graphics.
 
wbarnhill said:
The office I'm moving into has dual 22" screens, so I plan on requesting one of these as well:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/dh2go/digital/home.php
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Geeze, that ought to give you enough desktop at work! Will those run off the laptop or a desktop workstation? If the former, I'd be curious how it would operate. All I can picture is one display emulating the laptop display then the second a run-on to the side.

I saw a guy yesterday who ran a desktop with a single monitor... a 32" flat panel. The funny thing is, his resolution was huge. Either he's blind or just likes huge icons. I hope he's not too blind. He owns a construction company.
 
KennyFlys said:
I saw a guy yesterday who ran a desktop with a single monitor... a 32" flat panel. The funny thing is, his resolution was huge. Either he's blind or just likes huge icons. I hope he's not too blind. He owns a construction company.
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Probably bought it to impress others and doesn't know how to change resolution.
 
Ken Ibold said:
Probably bought it to impress others and doesn't know how to change resolution.
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LOL That describes a LOT of people when it comes to maintaining and properly setting up a computer. I'm no genius but I learned a fair amount by trial and error. And, I hate a desktop so crowded with icons, there's no clue what's underneath... sign of a potential sign of a poorly performing computer.
 
wbarnhill said:
The office I'm moving into has dual 22" screens, so I plan on requesting one of these as well:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/dh2go/digital/home.php
Click to expand...

I'm officially jealous. What I want at work more than anything is SCREEN REAL ESTATE. I'm required to have dozens of windows open at once since I have to work on 12 projects at once and my job is to be a human lookup table.

That Matrox device is neat but I'd be scared about it being VGA rather than digital. A lot of displays give vastly poorer performance with VGA vs. DVI. I just read reviews of the big 1920x1020 Plasma that say you want to use the HDMI port with a DVI-HDMI cable. Still, let me know how it works. I have a 1920x1020 widescreen Dell LCD. Adding a second would be heaven.

As far as the Macbook Pro, it depends on if you have to be mobile with it. I got a 15" because I thought the 17" was too big to be commuting with.

Kent has a 17" MacbookPro in the truck. It's a truck!

My best advice: Max out the hard drive. You'll run out of disk space with media files first. It's good that you got 4GB RAM.
 
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yea i wish i had a bigger monitor too mike. at work ive got something like a 15 inch LCD. its like working on an oscilloscope
 
My work is 99.9% on computer, graphic intensive, 8-12 hours a day. I use a Sony Vaio 13" laptop and I couldn't be happier. Actually, I'm thinking of getting a SMALLER machine for travel.

William, take as much computer as you can get, but just be happy they kept you as an employee.
 
Jason,

William got a mac with his new job! *hint* *hint*
 
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JohnR said:
William, take as much computer as you can get, but just be happy they kept you as an employee.
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Oh I'm absolutely thankful that they found a place for me that didn't result in a paycut or any major change. And the PO for the system I listed above went in today, so hopefully by next Friday I'll have it.
 
jesse said:
A company helicopter for faster Omaha response times.
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Jason's got a helicopter he could give you, but I'm pretty sure it won't make Omaha, or lift you. :rofl:

Of course, if you're waiting for Omaha, it could at least pass the time...
 
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